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Thursday, March 13, 2014

Sovereignty Election Issue Sweet Music for Liberal Ears

PLK changes the game, but in whose favour?

For Pauline Marois bagging Pierre-Karl Péledeau
as a star candidate promised to be the catalyst that would magically
turn unconvinced soft nationalists into PQ voters and although Péladeau
hardly represents the values and ideals of the socialist left wing
party, on balance he was thought to bring along enough votes to make
those within the party who opposed everything he stands for, hold their
nose and bite their tongue.

But things often don't work
out in life and Péledeau's jump into the ring had a startling and
unforeseen effect, somehow making sovereignty and the Independence of
Quebec the prime election issue, instead of the Charter of Values, which was the sure-fire issue that the PQ had hoped to run its election on.

With
now the fearful referendum elephant out of the bag, and in full
discussion, the Quebec Liberal Party may be poised to snatch victory
from the jaws of defeat and early polls indicate that it might just be
happening.

The latest poll released after Péledeau's
entry into the fray shows voters in the Quebec City region going solidly
Liberal at the expense of the CAQ, demonstrating an 'Anything But Pauline' movement taking root.

The Liberaltroops of PhilippeCouillardseemto have refueledat the expense ofCAQ , while in Decemberthe FrançoisLegaultteam was leadingin the polls.

ChristianBourque,vice-president ofLegerMarketing, saidthispolarizationmay be "Anybody buPauline"phenomenon, among other explanations. Link

The Quebec City region represents the traditional power base of the CAQ, but support looks like it is collapsing around the Francois Legault party, as voters opposed to a new referendum rally around the only party that can stop Pauline.

Péladeau is controversial man and stalwarts in the PQ are having a hard time digesting him, already there is cracks in the walls of separatist support and his presence may also have the effect of pushing hardliners to move towards more radical option like Quebec Solidaire and Option National.
Péladeau is going to be a liability, mark my words. There's just too much there to dislike and the campaign is just underway, with reporters scurrying to find dirt on him.

The FTQ, Quebec's largest union has come out firmly against Péladeau
and has for the first time in its history, refused to endorse the PQ,
nor officially make its membership available as campaign workers.
The attacks have started already;

But
the big effect of the Péladeau entrance is to have shifted the debate
to the independence issue, something PQ strategist wanted to steer away
from, their political Achilles Heel.

As Marois gets sucked into s discussing independence her credibility as a leader nose-dives;

"A sovereign Quebec would use the Canadian dollar and request a seat
on the Bank of Canada’s decision-making body, Parti Québécois Leader
Pauline Marois said Wednesday on the campaign trail.The PQ Leader
pointed to several studies on the matter conducted in the early 1990s
which showed that there would be no obstacles for an independent Quebec
to using the Canadian dollar. However, getting a seat on the Bank of
Canada’s Governing Council would be more difficult.
“Obviously we may wish to get a seat at the Bank of Canada but we would accept the Canadian monetary policies,” Ms. Marois said.Liberal Leader Philippe Couillard said Ms. Marois is living in a dream world.“The
PQ always tries to take us to an imaginary world, Alice in Wonderland,
where everything is going to be so great. No borders, no passport, it’s
fantastic. Everybody’s going to be great friends,” said Mr. Couillard." Link

For
Couillard and the Liberals, hammering on the independence issue is the
ticket to election success and the real question is whether the PQ will
swallow the bait and engage in those sovereignty debate.

Now
that Marois has opened up the Pandora's box about borders and dollars,
it is time for the federal government to step in with an attack. We were
promised by Denis Lebel that if the PQ discussed issues that involve
Ottawa, they would reserve the right of reply.
That time has come.
Any
back and forth with Ottawa over referendums, borders and dollars will
have a scathing effect, a discussion that practically all voters want to
avoid., sweet music to Liberal ears and poison for the PQ.

The more the issue of sovereignty is seriously, debated, the farther the PQ will sink.
With 61% of Quebecers saying they would vote NO in a new referendum, discussing its likelihood an electoral disaster for the PQ.
And
by the way, the 31% of those who say they will vote YES in a
referendum, don't necessarily want to have a referendum either, the fear
of another crushing humiliation too much to take.

One
of the more interesting aspects of Quebec politics is how quickly things
can change and how the fortunes of political parties can wax and wane,
virtually overnight.

If the Liberals play their cards
right and the PQ plays their cards wrong (as they seem to be doing) we
may just see a new Premier come election day.

All this
is courtesy of the talk of sovereignty and Marois' sad and fantastical
predictions of a sovereign Quebec, prosperous, without borders and
spending money graced with Queen portrait, and the presumptuous
assumption that Canada will embrace Quebec Independence and sit around
the fraternal fire pit and sing Kumbaya, something even committed
sovereigntist don't believe as realistic

Marois has
been roundly ridiculed in the Press for her glowing and imaginative view
of Quebec independence, preaching to an audience who doesn't want to
hear about it.

As long a Couillard keeps up the
sovereignty debate going and as long as the PQ take up the debate, the
election become a toss-up.

And remember readers, that
in analyzing future polls, the Liberal support is always
under-represented as we saw in the last election, where the got 4% more
votes than predicted in any poll.

The PQ: The PQ is the only party to vote for if you want sovereignty!PKP: To be clear I'm here to make Quebec an independent country!

The PQ: Oh, sovereignty? Well you know we might do that maybe some time but lets not talk about it,PKP: I'm here for the economy.

Conclusion: The PQ has no idea what it wants other than to be voted in and have more power. That should have been obvious to all last time they got voted in and didn't get anything done, other than try and set itself up to won the next election.

Well if this was some sort of ploy by Harper and Peladeau to infiltrate the PQ then it seems to be working. Just having Peladeau enter the race has set off the referendum discussion which alone is turning this election campaign into a vote for another referendum.

But lets see what happens the next few weeks but I agree that I think this is bad news for the PQ..a lot of their traditional base wil switch to Quebec solidaire and it looks like many of the CAQ supporters are fleeing to the Liberals.

Yes, Couillard is finally calling the "movement" "Alice in Wonderland" - I wish, just once every couple of days, that he would point out some of the really stupid things she says which she will not have control over should quebec separate and he has to keep hammering away at the referendum - he didn't start the talk, Peladope did, so the thing sounds like there's really something going on behind closed doors. This morning he tried to back off separation and talk about the economy but the horse has left the barn. I don't care how they go about it but I would love to see the PQ made to look like the asses they really are in leading the uneducated down the garden path.

Popo is not promoting the charter anymore, AND she shoved pelodope to the side as we all just say, reported twice on the national news and local news. She doesn't seem to want to talk about separation anymore either. Can these seppies BE more idiotic? Heaven forbid she would of taken care of business like the economy, jobs healthcare during the 18months she wore the crown. Nope, too busy drawing pictures of people with headwear and parading it around the province, not to mention all the physical garbage of mailed out flyers promoting charter of no values, that was introduced into the environment. I wonder how much THAT ran up the tab for Stewardship reporting over at PQ headquarters?

These dummies need to go, EVERYONE is realizing it. Those with half a brain anyway.

When a party is aware that most people will not vote for them if they talk about, or promote, the central goal of what their party is purported to be for, why it was created, it's time to close shop. Imagine the marijuana party refusing to talk about their stance on marijuana: we won't say if we will or if we won't change marijuana laws but we promise we will hold a white rolling paper on the subject, so that maybe one day, not necessarily within the term you're currently voting for we may decide to act on changing the law. At least they'd have the excuse of being high when they pull that one out.

I recall when several Pequistes, such as the composting Denis Lazure, attacked the building of the English super hospital. Philippe Couillard, who was the Minister of Health in the Liberal government at the time, said they made him feel ashamed, so this is a leader who may finally be on the side of Quebec Anglos and Allophones.

Actually, Cutie, it's stories just like the one above that really make cheering for the Liberals inert. Of course, all this is on Charest because, first of all, he did sweet f***-all to change the electoral map to prevent this perpetual slant in favour of the separatist party, not to mention unfairly excluding the blatantly overrepresented pro-Liberal vote.

Worse yet, it was under Charest's Liberals that the various government departments felt emboldened enough to no longer deal with Anglophones in English. All the PQ did was embolden and overtly encourage (demand, really) the entire government to follow.

Ottawa may choose to stay out of the campaign, which in these circumstances may be a wise choice, but its seditious creation, Radio-Canada, is doing its best to get the PQ back on track. Without anyone else discussing the Charter right now, last night Radio-Canada's news show, Le National, devoted a long segment to the Charter, using as its pretext, a Poll commissioned by you guessed it, Radio-Canda, which shows that over 50% of Quebecers believe that Quebec is threatened by Islamic fundamentalism. You could tell from the reporting that much of the footage had been prepared before the election call.

And this morning, again to resurrect the Charter, Jeannette Bertrand was given the mic for a lengthy interview on R-C's radio show for the 10:00 a.m. slot.

Apparently, Radio-Canada is filling in for the bozos running the PQ campaign

If the PQ wins they call for a referendum. If the referendum is a NO, they'll try again in 2030, 2055, 2100....... for ever.During that time, the real issues for which the quebecois should focus on are jobs, the economy, the debt, etc etc etc.I had enough of quebec. I wish that the PQ wins a huge overwhelming majority and soon after should call for a referendum that will be a winner.quebec please vote for the PQ on 7 April. Good riddance.

That may be the first time anyone has called the Irish smarter than anyone... ;). But it's true, everywhere the Irish go we assimilate quite a bit and retain a little Irishness. We usually find the right balance. Same as the Scots, really. The history of the French and the Scottish goes back even before Quebec:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garde_%C3%89cossaise

So it would be perfectly natural for there to be a McGill and a Redpath and so on in Quebec. It's too bad the history of Quebec gets used for politics, taken as a whole it really is unique and special.

Hey everyone check it out a federalist said a bigoted thing in response to two bigoted things from separatists claiming to have to "deal with the anglo problem" and then the separatists said three even more bigoted things in return after that, isn't that a great argument for separation?! Er no. Oh you crack me up student, your deadpan needs a bit of work but other than that, pure gold.

What is that row of 'XXXXXX'? It seems like you have something hidden underneath it.

On a separate note, somebody on another forum brought this and caught my attention, and it is a thing to think about.

The state of Washington has population of 6.97 million. Its state GDP is $400 billion and its debt is $79 billion.The province of Quebec has population of 7.90 million. Its provincial GDP is $358 billion and its debt is 265 billion.

Too bad that my wife and I can not do much on this election, for or against the PQ or the LPQ. Liberal candidate in the riding of our property in Montreal is Christine St-Pierre while PQ's is Evelyne Abitbol and CAQ's is Serge Pourreaux. Clearly, St-Pierre is heavily the favorite and if historical results is any indication, she will win the election quite easily. This riding is simply not a battleground riding and therefore our two votes may not mean much in the grand scheme of things.

I'm with you Laurie - they know he'll keep getting peppered with questions on separation so they're trying to show she's in charge and it's agenda, not his. I don't think most people will fall for that shit with the reputation he has but they need acting lessons as well as lessons in how to control stupidity.

Wow it's amazing anyone in the PQ can keep a straight face when they say they're not anti-religious minorities when the hand pick these wackos to run for them. For the record these people being complete idiots trumps them being separatists for why they should be disdained.

A few weeks ago, somebody posted a URL to a newspaper (from Singapore, I believe?) from 1970 which said U.S. troops were on the NY/Quebec border in case the provincial government fell. I tried Google but couldn't find it. Does anybody have that URL or know where on No Dogs it was posted? Thanks!

Close, extraterrestres = extraterrestrials, but thanks for translating for non-bilingual people, hmm it's just so very odd that google translate makes the same mistake translating "exraterrestres" into "exraterrestres" as you did. It's almost like if you put a misspelt word into it, like say "exraterrestres" instead of "extraterrestres " it shoots out the same misspelt word instead of whatever the real word is supposed to be in the other language. Good thing you, the paragon of bilingualism was here to translate, and belittle those who would have to use translation software. lmao.

I was the one who published said link and here it is for your pleasure (and ours): http://newspapers.nl.sg/Digitised/Article/straitstimes19730925-1.2.19.6.aspx

S.R lied - there's nothing about aliens in there.

However, I do wish to delight in pointing out that a few seps here claimed the U.S. would somehow mystically accept their independence when in fact, this article shows the Americans were ready to vaporize the separatists.

Now while I'm not a fan of U.S. foreign intervention policies, watching footage of those tanks shelling Berri-UQAM and PQ headquarters would have been favorite movie (even ranking #1 above Star Wars).

Thanks a lot. There was discussion about Russia and Ukraine on another message board, and while I don't like what Russia is doing, I felt that I had to be honest---my country has invaded Panama to secure the Panama Canal and what I have read said that we would do the same thing in Quebec if we thought it was in danger. Keep in mind that the situation in 1970 is different than 2014---there were actual terrorists bombings in Quebec as opposed to trolls posting on message boards. If the U.S. indeed had tanks on the border, they were more worried about the FLA than Rene Levesque. I also don't think that a PQ majority victory or necessarily a sovreignty or independence vote would force the U.S. miltary's hand---only if Canada or Quebec seriously made a move to unilaterally shut down the S.L. Seaway.

Yes, the situation is indeed different now than it was then, but some things remain the same.

However, if you'd like a few targets for your American tanks to point their turrets at, here goes:

http://ssjb.com/

http://www.jeunespatriotes.org/

Someone must have tipped off these psychos that they were on a watch-list: http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milice_Patriotique_du_Qu%C3%A9bec

You'll also want to raid the house of this vile piece of shit to find out who he's affiliated with these days:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raymond_VilleneuveBTW, check out what Ray-Ray had to say about the 9/11 attacks against your country

President Jimmy Carter had a secret contingency plan to send the Vermont National Guard into Quebec in the event of separation, and this was after the FLQ crisis, between 1976 and 1980. I wouldn't be surprised if the Pentagon still has similar plans on the books in the event of separation or civil unrest in Quebec.

I think "civil unrest" is the key. If Quebec were to separate peacefully and honour agreements concerning the St. Lawrence River, I don't think the U.S. would send troops in. If things got that bad, I think Canada would send in troops first and the U.S. would come in afterward to assist and at the request of Ottawa. (Granted, I suspect that behind the scenes Washington would be telling the PM and Governor-General that either U.S. troops could either come in with their permission or they could come in without.) I think that my country would want to avoid doing this if at all possible because Canada---not just French Canada but ALL of Canada---is very proud of its independence and U.S. troops in Canada w/o permission could set back American-Canadian relations more than two centuries.

Something occurred to me today in regards to election polls. We've been bombarded with phone calls the past couple of days by the various political parties, each wanting assurances that we'd vote for them. Each time, my husband answered reassuring whoever called that he'd vote for them, his rationale, tell everyone the same thing and nobody knows your business, autrement dit: "fessi e contenti" lol.

Problem is, if everyone does this, how really accurate are those polls?

That's what I was saying on here last AnecTOTE - people are lying to the pollsters regularly now and they just can't be believed anymore. I know I don't tell them anything but lies when they happen to call here.

they're pretty accurate. not so many people are dumb enough to lie and not seize the opportunity to boost your party's score. everybody except your husband and cutie003 know that polls have an influence on people. very few will hinder their favourite team's chances of winning by boosting another party's support.

there is one main source of discrepancy though. a lot of people will vote liberal but won't say, even to a pollster on the phone. out of shame.

It always puts a smile on my face when pinstripes tries to be mean, it's confirmation she's hurtin' lol. Poll or no poll, seppies are losing this election. Their campaign is led by a kamikaze pilot and a despised wing man, ...just ask the unions, quebec favorite pastime!

So in regards to polls "a lot of people will vote liberal but won't say" but "they're pretty accurate." Student logic strikes again.

Following your ridiculous assertion though, if the PQ and the PLQ are essentially tied in support but "a lot of people will vote liberal but won't say" you mean to say the PLQ are actually leading in the race by "a lot of people"? lol

that's a good one. so you also think mexicans are better than germans to assemble cars? the dude is even not aware of the only reason why production is moved to low wage countries and he thinks his opinion is worth something. haha. or maybe you were awre and just felt like writing a useless comment?

Geeze student, drink your morning coffee before you start commenting, that one didn't even make sense. If you think Mexico isn't a better place to build ski doos take it with with Bombardier, I'm not the one moving production there. As always I leave the role of useless comments to you, you do it, oh so well.

Well another election is underway in Quebec and as usual the spin, blackmail and lies begin.

Quebec as usual are bringing up the separation, referendum nonsense again and as usual the rest of the country has to endure the mainstream medias preoccupation with everything Quebec, and yes as usual no one is speaking for English speaking Canada, the majority of the country.

This has gone on for over 5 decades now, since Trudeau and his gang of anti – English language, anti – BNA metis bigots arrived in Ottawa from Quebec in the 1960’s. Quebec and the metis (they are not French) have run the show, inside and outside Quebec ever since.

Well enough is enough folks. Time for someone to speak for the rest of the country, so allow me to do what the scum bag politicians in Ottawa will not do, again! The pathetic thing is they ( Quebec – the French) have run and destroyed our real and proud English speaking history for over 5 decades now, and no one officially has come out and said so. The federal government has been silent for far to long…Quebec has been robbing Canada blind for decades now. Ever since Trudeau and his gang of anti – English language, anti – BNA “French - metis” bigots from Quebec arrived in Ottawa in the 1960’s, they have been funnelling billions upon billions in grants, subsidies, equalization payments… into Quebec every year = more and more debt…an absolute disgrace. And how do they say thanks in french? Well try decades of anti-English language laws like bills 22, 178, 101…nice eh?

So here is a dose of reality Quebec. Here is what will happen when/if you ever leave, and we hope you do ASAP. I will say what many of us are thinking outside Quebec, but no one has the balls, the honesty, and the decency in government to say it.

I will now say what many, many of us are thinking. Quebec you are about 23% of the population of Canada so 23% of the debt is yours, like it or not. Since you have spent the last 5 decades forcing the french language all over the country while banning ours in Quebec, a la bills 22, 178, 101… English becomes the only official language of Canada again. Borders will be drawn up, you will leave with about a 3rd of the province, like it or not, that’s right back o the 1763 borders…a corridor to the east will be drawn up, like it or not. You will not be allowed to use our money, make up your own. You will need a passport to enter Canada. The charter will repealed, back to our BNA act, our flag from 1965 will go back up as well…All ‘french’ parasites now working in the federal government, the police force, fire, health care, the city of Ottawa…all in Ottawa and living in Kebec will be fired and replaced by English speaking residents of Canada right away, that’s right get lost scum bags.

If you think for one minute that you will leave with what you want, you are dreaming, you are full of it, it will NOT happen…we will organize and speak for ourselves as long as you frenchman run our governments in Ottawa. You will not be negotiating with yourselves, with the ‘french’ in Ottawa. You will be dealing with English speaking Canadians, not from Quebec, people like me!!!

Time for dose of realty Quebec, now go ahead vote in the PQ, have your referendum, leave please…but we will be ready bigots. We have had enough of your BS!!!

>All ‘french’ parasites now working in the federal government, the police force, fire, health care, the city of Ottawa…all in Ottawa and living in Kebec will be fired and replaced by English speaking residents of Canada right away, that’s right get lost scum bags.

Such racist, bigoted language...

I'm one of those french "parasites"... I am fluently bilingual and I work for the Feds... I also live in Qc and vote NO. I am a loyal Canadian... Should I be let go? Why?

Hi Gatineau Guy - there are thousands of you living here but should quebec separate, your job will definitely be gone - I know you realize that and that is why there will be huge demand for the Pontiac and the Outaouais to partition from quebec. This area would be a wasteland if we did not have the federal government providing jobs here so get ready to join the demonstrations that will ensue should these PQ win a majority on April 7. Meanwhile make sure you get out to vote!

He'll be first in line claiming it's a compromise guaranteed to bring about eternal (1-2 months) month of linguistic peace before francophones start to look to yet again expand their hatred and destruction of everybody else.

It's dinosaurs thinking like this that has let to anglophone/immigrant Quebec being destroyed from the inside.

It remains to be seen whether the PQ will get a majority government, and then if there will be a referendum, and even then if the sovreignty/independence side will win. If all those things happen, I would not be surprised if all the things you say will happen actually do happen except for one. The Maple Leaf flag of Canada is here to stay. I don't see the Red Ensign coming back any more than the Latin Mass replacing English and French in the Catholic Church.

Even before James Wolfe posted on this blog, there are many Anglos posting if Quebec votes to leave Canada, parts of Quebec like Montreal Island or Gatineau should be allowed to stay in Quebec. I don't think it will come to that, because I think that when push comes to shove, most Francophone Quebeckers (or Quebecois) will prefer to stay in Canada as long as Ottawa lets them run Quebec their own way, even if it means Quebec turns into (or remains as) a "banana province." But let's say there is a referendum and the independence side wins.

In that case, I think things can and will get very, very ugly and Wolfe's scenario isn't that far out of line.

Wouldn't be that sure about nationalists flocking to the PQ, most baby boomers who drove the economy for decades, and who were carrying separatist agenda for forever are presently an aging population AND they are not as fearless as they use to be 20yrs ago when they still felt young and unconquerable. Now, they're worried about their financial security and a hospital bed should they need it. More than likely they don't feel it is the time to go wondering into uncertainty and the no-man-land of popo and PKP, I see them sticking with the sure thing, and it ain't the PQ.

You want to start shit with us? Bring it. Come to St. Catherines (anywhere between Atwater and Peel) on Sunday the 16th.We'll see if you've got the chutz to say that to us when were in front of you.

To anyone attending the parade: if you see anyone wearing that flag in YL's profile picture or wearing one of those "moi je suis souvrainiste" buttons at the parade, hit them. No warnings, no questions asked, just go right ahead and do what nature wants you to do.

Editor deleted my last respone to you YL, but I will make sure it stays up, because you need to be called to attention.

First, it doesn't surprise me one bit that you laughed off my invitation to come down to the parade and say some of what you're typing to people's faces. You, much like your ancestors are a coward. The reason the British conquered Quebec was that in the midst of the war, your people ran for the boats and abandoned the dozen or so brave Patriotes.

Funny thing is that (this is a medical fact), when you hang someone, their bowels evacuate. So that means in the end, even the bravest patriote shit himself in the face of the English. :-)

Nice heritage you have there, YL. A legacy of cowardice.

And one more thing monsieur le petit pain - the Irish never ran from the British, they stood their ground.

I find it amusing to watch Student desperately pleading with Edward Cunningham to "come to his senses" and see things from the separatist perspective.

I believe his stance is based on the fact that Edward has in fact examined the separatist perspective and summarily rejected it.

So much for that automated notion that the global community will embrace the Quebec community without any issues.

Facts about the movement that the global community finds hard to digest:

1. FLQ terrorism (especially the violence against foreign diplomats)2. Charter of values3. The effects of Bill 101 on business (especially small business)4. The effects of Bill 101 on citizens5. The effects of Bill 101 on Francophones' abilities to expand their linguistic scope

I wish some of you here would tone it down a bit. Wolfe is just so racist against francophones that is hard to believe..and cebeuq is not much better. This constant trash talking of francophones is not helping and any intelligent person knows that the majority of francophones want to stay in canada. Lets keep it in perspective..its about 35 percent of the population that wants to go and they are the ones causing all the problems. The trash talking makes anglos look like a bunch of raving lunatics.

On the other hand I think we are coming to a point where this neverending talk of seperation and constant griping has to end. We need closure. Partition may be one way out..but honestly I think it would be a much more drawn out messy affair than many here believe. It would likely result in a civil war but perhaps its the only way...Canada surely has the military might to defend the areas who want to leave.

Honestly..if the seperatists really really want a country then we can still give them a good chunk of Quebec and come to some sort of agreement on helping people move if they need to. For instance any seperatists living in areas staying in canada could be compensated fairly to move elsewhere and vice versa for federalists who want to move to the area staying in canada. it would cost billions to sort it all out but in the long run it would be worth it..then quebec would finally have its country..canada would have a passage areas to connect it to the atlantic provinces..most federalists would stay in canada.

Bien dit, suis entierement d'accordJames Wolfe makes this dinosaur understand why so many separatists feel the way they doAnd yep, we got a bankroll to move separatists into the new Gaspé country or etc. Would be healing for many to let a portion go independent. Give Marois and Peladeau and Parizeau and Beaudoin and their flag-waving weirdo nationalists a region, give the rest of us a freakin' break from their incessant victimhood. Better for everyone.

Also I gotta agree too how 'partition' itself is gonna be messy, despite what the crowd here seems to think....

Come on complicated, I've been saying the same thing since I joined this blog. The separatists don't want to live with us in peace, let's partition the areas that are federalist and let them go on their way. The rest of us can then get back to normal life in Canada whereby we follow the Canadian constitution and do not make enemies for no reason other than language. They will never leave us alone with their nonsense laws and charters strictly for political purposes so let's say goodbye and let them go! I would love to get back to not having this shit hanging around our necks all the time!

Closure is going to be tough. Look at the US, still divided north and south. It's pretty far from the fantasy of a "post-racial" society. But it is getting there. Baby steps.

It would be great to get past the emotional stuff but that's what nationalist movements are - less about trade agreements and laws and more about, "feeling" a certain way. Discussions quickly devolve into name-calling because who wants to talk about the effects on interest rates when the Bank Act has to be changed?

You are a raving nutcase..seriously..I think you need to see a psychologist..you come on here ranting racist slurs and then the tired old ww2 bs about france. By the way I suspect Germany would have rolled over England as quickly as France but the english were fortunate enough to have a large body of water between them..the only thing that saved their butts.

And again slamming all francophones is really lame and anyone with half a brain can see thats false. Unless you have something intelligent to say I suggest you go kick the wall or do some sports..you obviously are losing it.

Francophones are scared of losing their language and culture..and all the statements by anglos here saying it will never happen are not going to change that. The reality is that french has disappeared systematically over much of North America over the past 200 years and even here in Montreal back in the 1960s french was on its way out. I can understand why they want to protect it.

But unfortunately this protection of french rights has gotten to the point where anglo rights are being strippped away more and more. At some point Canada has to defend these rights and they are doing a poor job of it. At some point some sort of agreement has to be put in place to make everyone happy..maybe partition is the way..but honestly think it will be way more complex and messy than many think.

But coming on here and slamming all francophones is really pointless other than making you feel a bit better.

Crimea question: "Do you support Crimea joining the Russian Federation as a federal subject?"

Scotland question: "Should Scotland be an independent country?"

Quebec question: "The Government of Quebec has made public its proposal to negotiate a new agreement with the rest of Canada, based on the equality of nations; this agreement would enable Quebec to acquire the exclusive power to make its laws, levy its taxes and establish relations abroad — in other words, sovereignty — and at the same time to maintain with Canada an economic association including a common currency; any change in political status resulting from these negotiations will only be implemented with popular approval through another referendum; on these terms, do you give the Government of Quebec the mandate to negotiate the proposed agreement between Quebec and Canada?"

There are other reasons it's less complicated in Scotland - they already have EU passports and use the Euro so there aren't questions about those kinds of things. And they already have their own World Cup soccer team. But they aren't talking about "independence" the way it was considered a generation ago.

Trust me, the currency that Scotland is using right now is not the Euro but the British Pound Sterling. One of the arguments against Scottish independence is that London has said that they can't use the pound if they leave the UK. Scotland is part of the European Union but that's because they are also part of the United Kingdom. I don't think it's necessarily automatic that Scotland would be allowed to join the EU because some members like Spain don't want to set a precedent for regions within their own countries that might want to be independent, too.

Scottish comedian Frankie Boyle (and advocate for Scottish independence) has said on his Twitter feed that he fears his fellow Scots will vote to stay within the UK solely to keep the British pound.

"they already have EU passports and use the Euro so there aren't questions about those kinds of things. And they already have their own World Cup soccer team"

They are in the EU and they do have their own soccer team, so do Wales and Northern Ireland, though in the Olympics, there is only one GBR team. But they do not use Euro as currency. They use the British pound.

Correction, with the exception of 2012 Olympic Games in London, the Great Britain has not fielded football teams (male and female) at the Olympics since 1972, precisely because the separate memberships of the Home Nations in FIFA. Prior to 1972, England played as the Great Britain squads.

If that is the case, why are the separatist parties still reluctant to just launch the independence question? Why is Premier Marois still not answering direct questions about independence? If the population has confidence in independence, then the campaign platform is supposedly for independence and nothing else, is it not?

"Crimea is an autonomous region within Ukraine and seems to have the same rights as a Canadian province. So if it is perfectly legal for a province such as Quebec to hold a referendum on independence, why would it not be legal for Crimea to do the same? At no time did the USA object to Quebec holding a referendum on independence, so why the big brouhaha over Crimea? Moreover, what business would it be for the USA to have such objections – for Quebec or Crimea?"

Would you mind if I ask you a personal question? From what you've posted previously on No Dogs, it's obvious you are an allophone, and while you are fluent in both English and French, neither is your native language. It's also clear now that you are Russian. Do you have any relatives or friends living in Crimea or other parts of the Ukraine?

If the Parti Quebecois does not want to talk about, and does not want to commit to, independence of Quebec, why should any of the population vote for that party? What then makes PQ different with LPQ and CAQ?